Miletus
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The lower half of the benches and the remnants of the scene building of the theater of Miletus, as it was on August 6, 2005. |
Miletus (
Greek: Μίλητος
transliterated Miletos) was an ancient city on the western coast of
Anatolia (in what is now the
Aydin Province of
Turkey), near the mouth of the
Maeander River. The site was inhabited since the
Bronze age.
Homer records that at the time of the
Trojan War, it was a
Carian city (
Iliad, book II). Other Greek myths relate that the city was founded by a hero named Miletus, who fled
Crete after falling foul of King
Minos. These myths further relate that the hero Miletus found the city only after slaying a giant named Asterius, son of Anax; and that the region known as Miletus was originally called 'Anactoria'.
Miletus is first mentioned in the
Hittite Annals of
Mursilis II as
Millawanda. In ca.
1320 BC, Millawanda supported the rebellion of Uhha-Ziti of Arzawa. Mursili ordered his generals Mala-Ziti and Gulla to raid Millawanda, and they proceeded to burn parts of it (damage from LHIIIA:2 has been found on-site: Christopher Mee, Anatolia and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age, p. 142). In addition the town was fortified according to a Hittite plan (ibid, p. 139).
Millawanda is then mentioned in the "
Tawagalawa letter", part of a series including the
Manapa-Tarhunta letter and the
Milawata letter, all of which are less securely dated. The Tawagalawa letter notes that Milawata had a governor, Atpa, who was under Ahhiyawan jurisdiction; and that the town of Atriya was under Milesian jurisdiction. The Manapa-Tarhunta letter also mentions Atpa. Together the two letters tell that the adventurer Piyama-Radu had humiliated Manapa-Tarhunta before Atpa (in addition to other misadventures); a Hittite king then chased Piyama-Radu into Millawanda and, in the Tawagalawa letter, requested Piyama-Radu's extradition to Hatti.
The Milawata letter mentions a joint expedition by the Hittite king and a Luwiyan vassal (probably
Kupanta-Kurunta of Mira) against Milawata (apparently its new name), and notes that Milawata (and Atriya) were now under Hittite control.
In the last stage of LHIIIB, the citadel of
Pylos counted among its female slaves "Mil[w]atiai", women from Miletus.
During the collapse of Bronze Age civilisation, Miletus was burnt again - presumably by the
Sea Peoples. The remaining women, forcibly married by the invaders, retained a tradition of never sitting at table with their husbands.
The city of Miletus became one of the twelve
Ionian cities of
Asia Minor. Its gridlike layout, planned by
Hippodamos, became the basic layout for
Roman cities. The city also once possessed a
harbor, before it was clogged by
alluvium brought by the Meander.
Miletus was one of the cities involved in the
Lelantine War of the 8th century BCE. By the
6th century BC, Miletus had earned a maritime empire but brushed up against powerful
Lydia at home.
When
Cyrus of Persia defeated
Croesus of Lydia, Miletus fell under
Persian rule. In
502 BC, the
Ionian Revolt began in
Naxos; and when Miletus's
tyrant Aristagoras failed to recapture the island, Aristagoras joined the revolt as its leader. Persia quashed this rebellion and punished Miletus in such a fashion that the whole of Greece mourned it. A year afterward,
Phrynichos performed the tragedy "The Capture of Miletus" in Athens.
In
479 BC, the Greeks decisively defeated the Persians at the Greek mainland, and Miletus was freed of Persian rule. During this time several other cities were formed by
Milesian settlers, spanning across what is now Turkey and even as far as
Crimea.
Miletus was an important center of philosophy and science, producing such men as
Thales,
Anaximander and
Anaximenes. The courtesan
Aspasia, mistress of
Pericles, was also born in Miletus.
In
334 BC, the city was liberated from Persian rule by
Alexander the Great.
The
New Testament mentions Miletus as the site where the apostle
Paul met with the elders of the
church of
Ephesus before his capture and travel to
Rome for trial, as well as the city where
Trophimus, one of Paul's travelling companions, recovered while sick.
During the
Byzantine age Miletus became a residence for archbishops. The small Byzantine castle called Castro Palation located on the hill beside the city, was built at this time.
Seljuk Turks settled into the city in the 12th century A.D. and used Miletus as a port to trade with Venice.
Finally,
Ottomans utilized the city as a harbour during their rule in
Anatolia. As the harbour became silted up, the city was abandoned. Today the ruins of city lie some 10 kilometres from the sea.
The first excavations were conducted by the German archaeologist
Theodor Wiegand but these were interrupted several times by wars and various other events. Today, a team of German archaeologists is currently engaged in excavating Miletus. One artifact recovered from the city during the first excavations is the Market Gate of Miletus, which was transported piece by piece to
Germany and can be seen at the
Pergamon museum in
Berlin.
See also:
Alexander Cornelius,
Pergamon Museum*
Ancient Coins of Miletus*
Livius Picture Archive: Miletus* John Garstang, The Hittite Empire (University Press, Edinburgh, 1930), pp. 179-80.
